Contaminated Fish in Southern California

For decades, the Montrose Chemical Corporation in Torrance was dumping DDT, which they manufactured, at PCB's into the sewer system. The chemicals ultimately flowed out to sea and ended up in the sediment of Palos Verdes Shelf.

The EPA settled with Montrose and several other chemical companies and cleanup efforts have been in effect for the last ten years.

Carmen White is a Remedial Project Manager for the EPA. Dr. Susan Klasing is a toxicologist with the Fish and Water Quality Evaluation Section of the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, California Environmental Protection Agency. Read more about fish advisories for the area here. For maximum safety, they recommend eating on the fillet, not the whole fish as pollutants are concentrated in the fat.